Prime Minister

Chapter 1132 Rescue

Chapter 1132 Rescue

The Censorate is also known as Wutai and Cypress.

Because many cypress trees were planted outside the Censorate in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and thousands of wild crows circled above the cypress trees, it was named "Baitai" and "Wutai".

When Su Che, Su Mai, Zhang Cheng and their party arrived, they saw soldiers from the Censorate wearing white clothes, black scarves on their heads, and swords on their waists guarding outside the prison.

Su Zhe, Su Shi's eldest son Su Mai and Zhang Cheng came. Originally, Su Shi was not allowed to visit him, but when he saw that Zhang Cheng was holding the prime minister's order, the Censorate did not dare to stop them and let them in one by one.

The prison doors opened one by one, and Su Che and his entourage seemed to smell a rotten and damp smell.

When Su Che was taken to a cell, he saw a man sitting on the ground, hugging his knees and looking up at the moths hovering around the oil lamp.

When Su Che saw him, he patted the door and shouted, "Brother."

Upon hearing this, the other party immediately stood up and grabbed the door railing and said, "Jiu Sanlang! Are you here to see me for the last time?"

Su Zhe was surprised and asked, "Why do you say that, brother?"

Su Shi said: "A few days ago, Su Mai sent a smoked fish to me. I wrote two suicide poems for you, but I haven't sent them yet."

Su Zhe was surprised, and Su Mai hurried to explain after hearing it.

It turned out that Su Shi and Su Zhe had an agreement that on normal days they would only send vegetables and meat, but if they encountered bad news, they would send a fish.

One day, Su Mai asked a friend to deliver food to him, but he forgot to tell him about it. His friend mistakenly delivered a fish, which led to this misunderstanding.

Now that the misunderstanding was resolved, everyone was overjoyed and sighed that it was just a false alarm.

Su Shi sighed, "I have been so tired of sighing these past few days that I have even arranged my affairs after my death."

As they were talking, the cell locks were suddenly opened, and the Censor Shu Tan and He Zhengchen arrived at the prison accompanied by dozens of prison guards.

Shu Tan, the censor, was very imposing in the prison. He looked around and bowed to Su Che, saying, "Ziyou, this is the Censorate. You are not allowed to come in without permission. Not to mention any strangers."

Su Che did not answer.

Su Mai had no good feelings towards Shu Tan, so he could only hold back and said, "Report to the Imperial Censor, here is the order from Prime Minister Jixian!"

Shu Tan said: "I know, but without the emperor's personal order, it is difficult for me to do anything."

After saying that, Shu Tan looked at Zhang Cheng standing beside him and asked, "Who are you?"

"Me?" Zhang Cheng hesitated for a moment, and Su Mai at the side said quickly: "This is the second son of Prime Minister Zhang's family."

Shu Tan was moved when he heard this and said, "So it's Mr. Zhang Erlang. I'm so sorry!"

"Don't dare to take it seriously."

Shu Tan said: "In this case, for the sake of Jixian, I will make an exception for once."

Su Zhe and Su Mai both breathed a sigh of relief when they heard this.

Shu Tan glanced at Zhang Cheng. The other party didn't know that Shu Tan knew his identity from the beginning. He deliberately mobilized a large number of troops to this place, which was also intentional.

This time it’s the Wutai Poetry Case.

Wang Anshi, Wang Anli, Zhang Fangping, Empress Dowager Cao, and Zhang Dun all spoke for Su Shi.

Only Zhang Yue, who was on good terms with the Su brothers, said nothing.

Zhang Yue seemed to be not interfering in the case, but he allowed Su Zhe and Su Mai to enter and leave Wutai with his handwritten orders. His intention was almost as if he had not told Shu Tan in person that Su Zizhan was the person I want to protect, and if you dare to touch him, you will be in trouble.

Shu Tan looked at Zhang Cheng, who seemed young and dull, and made some calculations in his heart.

Shu Tan bowed and said, "Mr. Zhang Erlang, this case is now quite controversial among scholars. Some people say that it was our Censorate that wronged Su Shi."

"It's just what others say, but I have to speak my mind in front of Prime Minister Zhang."

Shu Tan did not wait for Zhang Cheng to answer, and said: "I will now charge Su Shi with four crimes."

"One is that he never repents, and his evil deeds are already evident."

"The second is arrogant and perverse words, which are heard everywhere in China and abroad."

“The third is to distinguish falsehood in words and to be firm in false conduct.”

"Fourth, Your Majesty should improve government affairs and not blame me for anything else."

"We in the Censorate believe that Su Zizhan insulted his superiors and insulted his subordinates, which is not to be pardoned by law."

Zhang Cheng's face changed and he thought, how could it be so? Isn't this just a pretext for accusing someone?

Su Zhe, Su Shi and Su Mai standing by all lowered their heads after hearing this.

Zhang Cheng thought for a moment and said, "You don't have to tell me these things, Daddy... Jixian just told me to take a look at Scholar Su."

"See if he was tortured? Was he treated harshly? Was he well-fed? He is a serious criminal of the court, so he needs to be treated well until the case is solved. Don't make any accusations against him."

Seeing that Zhang Cheng was not fooled, Shu Tan laughed awkwardly.

He Zhengchen stepped forward and said, "Please let Erlang Jun report to the Prime Minister that Su Zizhan is doing well in prison, his family provides him with food, and he also has hot water for washing every day."

Su Shi, who was standing by, said, "That's true. I wasn't treated harshly. It was just that I was interrogated all night long, which made me tired and I couldn't rest. I was also threatened from time to time."

Upon hearing this, Shu Tan glanced at Su Shi, feeling angry and helpless.

He Zhengchen and Shu Tan took their leave, and everyone talked to Su Shi.

Zhang Cheng said, "My father asked me to tell Scholar Su that he is unworthy of being the prime minister, but he can't do anything about this matter, and it is a burden for Scholar Su to be here."

Su Shi said to Prime Minister Zhang: "What are you talking about? Thank you Prime Minister for your concern. I remember that both Su Shi and Prime Minister were taught by Mr. Ouyang. Mr. Ouyang was a great writer and wanted you to inherit his legacy and carry forward his knowledge."

"Unexpectedly, the Prime Minister's official position became higher and higher, but his poems and articles became less and less. On the contrary, Su Mou was not successful in his official career, but he was successful in the literary world. He was regarded as a master by great scholars near and far. Today's Confucian scholars all call Su Mou "Master". He has replaced the Prime Minister as the master of the literary world."

"This is also the reason why one loses in one place but gains in another. Who would have thought that he would be imprisoned because of his great talent and reputation? This was also something that Shi had never expected."

Everyone was at a loss whether to laugh or cry after hearing this. Even at this point, Su Shi still did not forget to make fun of himself and then made fun of Zhang Yue.

Su Zhe asked, "Brother, have you confessed?"

Su Shi nodded and said, "Before I entered Wutai, I thought it was just some things in writing. At most, I told the truth about current events, and I didn't mean to accuse anyone. But the censor pressed me again and again, so I had to say yes."

Everyone shook their heads. They had still had some hope, but they didn't expect Su Shi to confess everything.

Su Mai said unwillingly, "Dad, are you really confessing everything?"

Su Shi nodded, then said: "What else can I do? I am still a prefect after all. The Censorate in Huzhou dragged me into the capital with a rope, just like driving chickens and dogs."

"I came to Huzhou to build the Songjiang dike for Sun Jue, but the censor insisted that I was using poetry to satirize the farmland irrigation law. If I had known this, I would have said, 'If I talk about worldly affairs in front of the green mountains, I should have mentioned the white and floating emperor.' It is really difficult to talk about current affairs."

"What I hate even more is making something out of nothing. Chen Xiang and I saw several peonies in a Buddhist temple and wrote a poem: 'One flower is so red and green that it seems to flow, and the spring light shines back on the snow and frost. Chemical industry only wants to present new and exquisite things, and it does not let idle flowers have little rest."

"Shu Tanfei said that I wanted this poem to satirize the ruling party, using chemical engineering as a metaphor for the ruling party and idle flowers as a metaphor for the common people."

"That's a great injustice to me."

Everyone shook their heads again, watching Su Shi talking to himself and looking at him at a loss, as if he had gone crazy.

Su Zhe and Su Mai were very sad.

……

When Zhang Cheng returned home, Zhang Yue was meeting a guest, and the visitor was none other than Wang Anli.

Wang Anli said to Zhang Yue, "My elder brother wrote to me saying that the only person in the world who can save Su Zizhan is the Prime Minister, so I ask the Prime Minister to lend a hand!"

Zhang Yue smiled and asked, "Is this what Wang Shugong meant, not what Hefu meant?"

Wang Anli shook his head and said, "No, it was indeed my brother's idea. Here is the letter as proof."

Wang Anli handed the family letter to Zhang Yue. Although it was a family letter, Zhang Yue saw that Wang Anshi was asking Wang Anli to plead with him.

Zhang Yue was moved and said, "Since I became the Prime Minister, Lord Shu has never bothered me with anything. I never thought it was because of Su Shizhan. Lord Shu is truly a gentleman."

Zhang Yue was indeed shocked. He had been involved in many dirty deeds with Wang Anshi since he became prime minister. Today, Wang Anshi actually lowered himself to ask Zhang Yue to rescue him privately for Su Shi's sake.

This gentleman truly deserves the high praise from scholars of later generations.

Wang Anli said: "Of course in Anli's eyes, if Su Zizhan died because of this, the world would definitely blame my brother. This matter is my brother's request to the Prime Minister."

Zhang Yue suppressed his emotions, put down the letter and said, "But Hefu, I should not be directly involved in this matter."

Zhang Yue stretched out his hand and interrupted Wang Anli, saying, "Not showing up does not mean I won't save you. Even if there was no letter from Lord Shu, I would have saved Zizhan. But when we get to the palace, I'll have to trouble you, Hefu, to speak up for justice first."

Wang Anli stood up and said, "Thank you, Prime Minister!"

Zhang Yue smiled and said, "Since I became Prime Minister, I have one thing in common with Lord Shu."

After saying this, Zhang Yuewang and Anli both clapped their hands and laughed.

After Wang Anli left, Zhang Cheng told Zhang Yue about his meeting with Su Shi.

Zhang Yue said to Zhang Cheng, "Zizhan did sign and seal his confession."

"He wrote, 'I have been in the academy for many years, but have not been promoted much. Moreover, most of the people employed by the court are young, and their views are different from those of Shi. I have written poems and essays to satirize him, and I intend to circulate them to everyone.'"

"what?"

Zhang Cheng was surprised. He was not surprised by how Zhang Yue got Su Shi's confession from the Censorate, but why Su Shi would take the initiative to admit it.

Zhang Yue said: "Unexpected!"

Zhang Cheng nodded and said, "Could it be that Uncle Su wrote this in a confused manner after being tortured by the Censorate for dozens of days?"

Zhang Yue said: "It is indeed possible, but I have told you many times not to make a person a legend."

"Your uncle Su is first a human being, and then the greatest talent in ancient and modern times."

"Maybe he has this unwillingness, otherwise why would he use so many words like 'indifferent to fame and gain' in his poems and essays?"

Zhang Cheng thought to himself that his uncle Su had been ranked third in the imperial examination, which was a high position in the country. In the past hundred years of imperial examinations, only he, his father Zhang Yue, and his great-uncle Wu Yu had achieved such a rank. How could he have no expectations for his future career?

Zhang Yue said: "Your uncle Su's temperament is such that when he encounters evil, he will spit it out like a fly in his mouth."

"The four words 'following and accompanying the newcomers' mentioned in his previous memorial, weren't they referring to Cai Que, Li Ding and the like?

"But then again, my good friend Zhang Zihou and I are also two new comers."

Zhang Yue recalled that when Su Shi first came to Beijing to meet the emperor, he pointed out three shortcomings of the emperor. One of them was that he brought people in too quickly, which made the emperor almost unable to get down the stairs on the spot.

Although Zhang Yue knew that Su Shi did it unintentionally.

However, if I were in Su Shi's position, watching his two former friends Zhang Yue and Zhang Dun rise to prominence while he himself was politically suppressed and excluded, how could I not feel some emotion in my heart?

Everyone knows that Su Xian is the most talented person in ancient and modern times. At the same time, he is also a very ambitious person in politics, and he hopes to make his king as good as Yao and Shun.